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Rams43
Well, I do think it’s fair to criticize the Boom and Allen as starters decision strategy.
Who other than Kromer had to be behind those decisions? Not blaming Kromer for the respective injuries, of course, but there’s just no question that both of those players were not up to the job even before their injuries.
Except I don't think that was the problem.
You can start 2 newbies---which is not a rare event on OLs throughout the league--if the 2 OTs in place hold up. They didn't. That means you have 2 regressing OTs and 2 newcomers. THAT was the problem. Not just 2 newcomers in itself.
And we know that both AW and Hav played well under AK in 2017 and 2018. The OL coaching didn't just suddenly disappear. Plus AK has been the de facto run game coordinator since the start--last year was not new in that regard.
IMO? There was nothing wrong in itself with the decision to start newcomers inside, though I would have kept Saffold (AK does not make cap decisions like that). But once the 2 newbies went out to play and the OTs were not playing up to their normal standard, there was no way they would have a decent line, and no way for any individual to look good on the OL (when the OL itself is out of sync it is hard to play well as an individual player).
Fortunately, AW straightened out, and they managed to play well toward the end with (as I said) 3 inexperienced injury replacements.
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